'Catholics who study Jesus and women', is a group of women who meet once a month, to study theological issues as seen by women. They conducted a simple online survey last month. The results of a survey conducted by researchers at Newcastle University in Australia to listen to the opinions of Catholic women around the world in preparation for the Synod of Bishops were published in this year's report. These same survey questions were translated into Korean and used by the columnist for an online unscientific survey here in Korea.
In the international survey, a total of 17,200 people from 104 countries responded but few of them came from Asia or Africa, and most of them reflected the opinions of Western women so she was curious about what Korean female believers would think.
Thanks to increased participation by sharing the survey link, a total of 149 people responded. Compared to the international survey, where there were a total of 400 respondents from Asian countries, including 192 from India and 99 from Taiwan, they considered their survey had a significant number of cases from Asia. She would like to share all the details mentioned by these women, who mostly responded that ‘my identity as a Catholic is important to me’ (94%), but given the lack of space, she will only introduce the content that stood out among the many issues.
Since the international survey was a survey related to the synod itinerary, most questions were about the need for reform of the Catholic Church. The international survey, in which mainly Western women participated, found that 'Church leaders need to address abuse of power and other forms of abuse, including spiritual harm' (89%) and that 'clericalism is harming the Catholic Church' (85%). The level of agreement on these subjects was the highest.
However, female believers in Korea agreed that ‘climate change is an urgent issue that must be addressed by the entire church’ (95.3%) and that ‘language used in liturgy and church documents should not be gender-discriminatory’ (95.3%). On these issues, the degree of agreement was the highest. Naturally, the situation and priority interests of Korean female believers are different from those of Western women, but among the survey items that deal with problems within most churches, female believers are most interested in responding to climate change, which is presented as a social task for the church. It was surprising to see this. Also noteworthy is the fact that among the challenges within the church cited by female believers in Korea, sensitivity to language that is not sexist is important.
There was a problem with the language expressed in the priest's homily, including the title 'Brothers' (which in Korean does include women but they would prefer brothers and sisters) during Mass, but more fundamentally, there was a need for women to have their presence recognized in the church. Of course, it is important to resolve the mountain of tasks within the church, but through the voices of Korean female believers, she feels once again that the ultimate goal of such internal renewal and purification is to enable our church to better proclaim the gospel to the world. Spreading the gospel to the world goes beyond just an invitation to come to church; it involves efforts to restore God's created order in the era of climate crisis; and a desire to listen and share with the poor and suffering; it encompasses everything that citizens are interested in and participate in.
Just as the Church teaches that “inscribing the law of God in the civil life of this world is the work of laypeople with a properly formed conscience” (Article 43 of the Pastoral Constitution), we, believers, must take the lead as ‘Catholic citizens’ engraving the law of God in Korean society. Since they have an active role to play in the whole life of the Church, laypersons are not only bound to penetrate the world with a Christian spirit but are also called to be witnesses to Christ in all things in human society.
